Control: What Does It Mean To Trust God With Our Uncertainty?

Published November 4, 2016

My friend Hannah, who produces a YouTube channel called “VivaciousHannah”, suggested a collaboration on a specific topic. That topic? Faith and control. Below are my thoughts on the matter, but the following link will take you to her video that continues the conversation!

Want something? Anything? It’s pretty easy to get it in the 21st century, which is increasingly creating a more Orwellian society than an “enlightened” society. Technology is beautiful, but hot dang, it has destroyed us when it comes to convenience and instant gratification. We became so enamored with the matrix that we ate of its fruit, believing the lie that we are gods in control of the universe.

The more I write, the more I appreciate one of the most beautiful things about word processors: the undo and redo buttons. Make a typo? Delete a paragraph by accident? Decide to take the post in a whole different direction?

Click…

Click…

Click…

Done.

Now, that is what I call control! When I’m on my laptop, I have more control than I ever will once I close it and step out into the real world. In the real world there are no undo buttons, “save as” options, or spell-check features. Life in a fallen world doesn’t provide fallen creatures with omniscient control over a world that is falling apart.

We human beings are silly little creatures…We’ve told ourselves the lie that we’re “in control” so much that we actually believe it!

Then life happens…You lose someone you loved. Someone breaks your heart. Your dreams don’t come true. Brokenness will find you in this fallen world. Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes life seems out of control like a runaway train.

What happens when you begin to believe that you’re in control of your life? You chase relationships that aren’t the best that God has in mind for you. Dreams become more about “I want to” than “It will bring life to the world”. Narcissism has replaced a proper view of self and the world around us.

We have built an external facade to portray that we have control of our lives, all while we are falling apart on the inside.

Maybe I’m a fool, but I believe that there is a God who is still in control. No matter how hard I may try, I can’t change the world. As much as I may work towards sharing hope with others, I can’t fill the void in their souls. In spite of the investment I may put into my dreams, I can’t force them into existence.

“God never withholds from His child that which His love and wisdom call good. God’s refusals are always merciful – ‘severe mercies’ at times, but mercies all the same. God never denies us our hearts’ desire except to give us something better.” – Elizabeth Elliot

Let’s admit it: we’re all out of control.

Yet, grace…The grace of God that brought redemption for all of our sins and failures! The grace that can redeem broken relationships and broken hearts! Such a grace that stepped into our world, gave up His “rights”, and died four our redemption!

We chose to reject God. God still had a plan in motion to redeem us. We chose to wallow in our own sludge, desperately looking for satisfaction in life apart from God. Instead, the Creator of all things stepped into our sludge, got down in the middle of it all, and rescued us from what we were powerless to overcome – ourselves.

If that is the depths of the love and power of Jesus, then why do you presume that He is out of control? Why do we only invite God into certain areas of life, yet we like to keep Him at an arm’s length when we’re in our “control zone”?

Stop kidding yourself. YOU ARE OUT OF CONTROL.

What if we began looking for the heart of God in each decision of life, knowing that He is somehow working behind the scenes?

What if, even when things don’t go the way we planned, that God is refining our hearts and preparing us for something else that we can’t see?

Imagine what it would be like if we simply trusted God with Him doing what He does best: being God…What a concept!

I’ll end with this:

“‘I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.’ GOD ’s Decree. ‘For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.’” – Isaiah 55:8-11

Related

Andrew Voigt is a writer and blogger discussing thoughts on God, dreams, and brokenness. He has served as a contributing writer for publications such as Patheos, Fathom Magazine, and Kingdom Spark. Andrew holds a B.S. in Communication Studies from Liberty University and lives in Charlotte, NC with his wife and orange cat named Pumpkin.